Design and implementation of an indoor solar emulator based low-cost autonomous data logger for PV system monitoring

Abstract

With the growing interest in renewable energy resources, a various number of studies and development for photovoltaic (PV) systems have investigated to satisfy global needs in energy. The larger interest in PV resources has increased request for suitable apparatus with which to test PV systems. This paper deals with the design of an indoor PV source emulator using an actual PV panel to facilitate PV system testing under real environment conditions. A low-cost Arduino Mega256 microcontroller-based data acquisition system (DAQ) approach has been developed to collect the data in term of voltage, power and current based on different levels of light intensity and temperature as well as under partial shading conditions. Hence, the proposed system is not just a solar emulator but it’s a complete solar emulator-DAQ system that can emulate the sunlight and monitor the PV parameters and then collect and store the data for further research investigation. The proposed monitoring system provides real time update of the solar panel characteristics at any time in the year without relying on the weather changes. This data acquisition system will be of superior interest for undergraduate and graduate students as it is both open-source and flexible. The details design of the proposed PV solar emulator and data logger and its implementation are described.

Internet of things-based photovoltaics parameter monitoring system using NodeMCU ESP8266

“…The cheapest controller is the PIC 16F877 [20], but it has the lowest computational efficiency and requires an external WiFi module to connect to the internet. Due to their easy programming and relatively high performance for many applications, the Arduino MEGA2560 and Arduino UNO R3 [4], [19] have become popular controllers.…”

Implementation of fuzzy logic MPPT based on Arduino in small scale PV pumping system

“…The measurement principle adopted in this test bench is to take the current Ipv supplied by PVG and voltage Vpv between its terminals. These quantities Ipv and Vpv are delivered by the current and voltage sensors connected to the inputs of the analogue to digital converter integrated into the Arduino board type Mega 2560 [17]. A processing unit, built around the micro-controller of the Arduino Mega board; is programmed to ensure the automation of the pumping station [18].…”